An insurance magnate has been ordered by the High Court to pay his former wife £48m in what is thought to be the biggest divorce award in legal history. John Charman, 53, had offered Beverley, 52, their home in Sevenoaks, Kent, and £6m after their marriage ended in 2003. On Thursday, he said he would appeal against the ruling which was made in private last week in the Family Division of the High Court. The sum awarded to Mrs Charman includes £8m in assets already in her name. A statement issued by Mr Charman and his solicitors said the award was "unfair and unreasonable". He said he had made an offer to his wife of £20m, which would be "impossible for any reasonable person to spend in their lifetime". The couple, who have two children, were married in 1976 when neither had significant resources. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk

Typhoon Prapiroon has hit southern China, bringing with it heavy winds and rain that have forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people. The storm hit the coast of Guangdong province at 1920 local time (1120 GMT), Chinese media said. Severe flooding and landslides are expected as Typhoon Prapiroon, which has already killed six people in the Philippines, passes over. The region has been hard hit by typhoons this season. More than 600 people died when Typhoon Bilis hit six southern provinces last month. Prapiroon - meaning "God of Rain" in Thai - made landfall near Yangjiang city in Guangdong province, China Central Television said. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5241016.stm

Two American soldiers Thursday described in gruesome detail how their comrades allegedly killed three blindfolded Iraqi detainees, one of whom was covered in brain matter and another who spit blood during his dying moments. The soldiers testified during a military hearing to decide if the four soldiers should face a military court-martial on murder charges for allegedly killing the Iraqis after detaining them in a house on May 9 near Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad.Cpl. Brandon Helton testified that he was the last man off the helicopter that brought a group of soldiers to a marshy island outside Samarra in search of suspected Al Qaeda operatives....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,206855,00.html

Until three weeks ago the border between Israel and Lebanon was relatively quiet. There had been no major incidents for the six years since Israel ended its 22 year-occupation (since 1978) in May 2000.Hezbollah patrolled the Lebanese side, and the Israeli army, the Israeli side. The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) observed.There were skirmishes, many prompted by Israeli invasion of Lebanese airspace which, according to UNIFIL reports, occurred almost daily.In 2003, three years after the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, Israeli Brigadier General Meir Caliphi, completed a posting as commander of the Galilee Division saying northern Israel was witnessing one of its more peaceful periods in years. 'When compared to other parts of the country, the north is flourishing,' he said....http://story.malaysiasun.com/p.x/ct/9/cid/b8de8e630faf3631/id/26abaeefa963aed1/

Israeli forces have systematically failed to distinguish between combatants and civilians in their military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Thursday. The pattern of attacks in more than 20 cases investigated by Human Rights Watch researchers in Lebanon indicates that the failures cannot be dismissed as mere accidents and cannot be blamed on wrongful Hezbollah practices. In some cases, these attacks constitute war crimes, the report says. The 50-page report, "Fatal Strikes: Israel's Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon," analyzes almost two dozen cases of Israeli air and artillery attacks on civilian homes and vehicles. Of the 153 dead civilians named in the report, 63 are children. More than 500 people have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli fire since fighting began on July 12, most of them civilians. ...http://story.malaysiasun.com/p.x/ct/9/cid/c08dd24cec417021/id/a839bce8b649990e/

A federal judge reluctantly agreed Wednesday to delay the trial of Al Qaeda suspect Jose Padilla and two alleged confederates on terrorism charges until early next year after defense lawyers insisted they cannot be ready any earlier. Padilla, 35, a U.S. citizen and former Chicago gang member, was held without charges for 3 1/2 years by the U.S. military as an enemy combatant. He was arrested in May 2002 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, purportedly on an Al Qaeda mission to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in a major U.S. city.Padilla became the subject of a legal battle over President Bush's wartime detention powers, which ended when he was added late last year to an existing terrorism conspiracy and support case. The "dirty bomb" allegations weren't mentioned in that case....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,206845,00.html